Pack basketball: Nevada grits out win against Idaho

Jan. 17, 2008

Nevada’s Armon Johnson drives to the basket against Idaho’s Brandon Brown in the first half of their Western Athletic Conference game on Thursday night at Lawlor Events Center. The former Hug High star scored a career-high 23 points to lead the Pack in a 69-61 victory. / Andy Barron/Reno Gazette-Journal

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Nevada 69, Idaho 61

23-of-33 -- That was Nevada's foul shooting, which was 69.7 percent. In contrast, the Vandals made 10-of-22 foul shots for 38.5 percent.KEY PLAY

Brandon Fields' layup that gave the Pack a 64-58 lead with 1:56 left in the game after Idaho had sliced the deficit to four points.KEY TO THE GAME

Nevada's domination on the boards, outrebounding Idaho, 41-28, covered up some deficiencies.

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There was nothing the Nevada basketball team could do to pretty up the game.

But the Wolf Pack still managed to take a gritty 69-61 win over the Idaho Vandals in front of 7,071 fans at Lawlor Events Center on Thursday night. The Pack went into the game an 18-point favorite, but was never able to open a double-figure lead.

"That was an ugly basketball game, but it is a win," Nevada coach Mark Fox said. "It was a game in which we had 18 turnovers. We let people drive it to the basket so it was just mistakes on both ends that really contributed to the ugly game.

"Give Idaho credit. Their zone got us out of rhythm, but we still shot a solid percentage."

Armon Johnson led the Pack with a career-high 23 points and Marcelus Kemp helped get Nevada off to a good start with 16 of his 18 points in the first half. Brandon Fields and JaVale McGee scored 13 points each.

Demarshay Johnson got his first start since the sixth game of the season and finished with 11 rebounds to help lead Nevada to a 41-28 advantage on the boards. Johnson also had two points on a night the Pack didn't get any scoring from its bench. Fox was more concerned about his team's defense than the fact that no reserves scored.

"We have to commit to be a better defensive team," Fox said. "Every night, we have to defend to have a chance to win. Our defense isn't good enough right now."

Jordan Brooks had 20 points and Michael Crowell scored 16 for the Vandals.

The Pack ran its record to 10-6 overall and 2-1 in the Western Athletic Conference going into its game against Boise State on Saturday at Lawlor Events Center. The Broncos (12-5, 3-2) lost at WAC-leading Utah State, 82-78, on Thursday. Idaho, which is 0-8 on opponents' home courts, dropped to 4-12, 1-4.

The game disintegrated into a free throwing contest in the final 20 minutes with 30 of the game's 46 fouls called in the second half by the officiating crew of Tom O'Neill, Bobby Vetkoetter and Chris Rastater. Idaho had three players foul out, Brooks, 6-foot-10 center Darin Nagle and Mike Kale. Nagle had missed the Vandals' previous two games with an undisclosed injury and had five points and four rebounds.

The Pack made 23-of-33 shots from the foul line for 46.8 percent and the Vandals hit 10-of-22 for 43.4 percent.

"We got beat on the free-throw line," Idaho coach George Pfeifer said. "We made more field goals and we made more 3-pointers."

The Pack hit 22-of-47 from the field for 46.8 percent, including 2-of-12 from 3-point range for 16.7 percent. The Vandals hit 23-of-53 from the field for 43.4 percent, including 5-of-13 from 3-point range for 38.5 percent.

"We had a tough game," Armon Johnson said. "We could've played a lot better as a team. Give Idaho a lot of credit. They're a much improved team. They played hard."

Kemp dismantled the Vandal defense in the final six minutes and five seconds of the first half to lead Nevada on a 19-9 run and gave his team a 41-32 lead at intermission. Kemp scored nine points on the run after the Pack bounced back from a 23-22 deficit with 6:27 remaining.

The Vandals kept battling, but were never able to get closer than four points in the second half.

"We struggled a little bit. We gutted through it and got the win," Kemp said. "That's what's important."

In the second half, a junk zone that included man-to-man coverage on Kemp helped to open up some other things for the Pack.

"He (Kemp) can't do it all," Fox said. "He needs some help. In the second half, there were a lot of driving lanes Armon and Brandon were able to take advantage of."

The Pack, though, found it difficult to shake the persistent Vandals in the second half. Idaho was able to cut the deficit to four points five times, the last time at 62-58 on a Brooks free throw with 2:02 left in the game.

Fields gave the Pack some breathing room with a layup that made it 64-58 with 1:56 remaining. Armon Johnson hit two free throws and then went back to the line to make one of two to extend the lead to nine points at 67-58 with 48 seconds left. It was the seventh time Nevada had led by nine points, its biggest lead of the game.